In the December quarter 2011, the trend estimate of total accommodation takings for hotels, motels and serviced apartments with 15 or more rooms increased by 1.1% to $2177.8 million compared with the September quarter 2011.

Over the same period, the seasonally adjusted estimate decreased by 0.8% to $2169.2 million.

ROOM OCCUPANCY RATE

The December quarter 2011 trend estimate room occupancy rate of 65.8% for hotels, motels and serviced apartments with 15 or more rooms was 0.2 percentage points higher than the previous quarter.

Over the same period, the seasonally adjusted estimate remained unchanged at 65.6%.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE (QUARTER)

Release Date

March 2012
June 2012

29 June 2012
28 September 2012

ABOUT THIS ISSUE

This issue presents results from the December quarter 2011 Survey of Tourist Accommodation (STA) for the following categories of establishments:

hotels and resorts with 15 or more rooms

motels, private hotels and guest houses with 15 or more rooms

serviced apartments with 15 or more units

CHANGES TO THIS PUBLICATION

From the March quarter 2012 the PDF component of this publication will be discontinued. Individual tables that were previously included in the publication will be available as a data cube on the Downloads page.

AUSTRALIAN STATISTICAL GEOGRAPHY STANDARD (ASGS)

The ABS has been progressively replacing the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) with the new Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) as its geographic framework. The ASGS will become the geographical framework for the STA from the March quarter 2012. Users will be provided with information to assist them to transition from the ASGC to the ASGS.

The changes resulting from the move to ASGS are:

Small area data will be produced at Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2), replacing Statistical Local Areas (SLA).

Tourism Regions (TRs) will be constructed from allocations of SA2s and as a result will change. For some TRs, these changes are minimal.

Data for Local Government Areas (LGAs) and Special area - Brisbane City Core will no longer be produced.

AAA Tourism manages the scheme that applies STAR Ratings to accommodation establishments. This scheme has undergone a strategic review resulting in changes to the application of STAR Ratings. The changes to STAR Rating will be introduced to the STA collection over the coming quarters. Further enquiries on changes to the STAR Rating system should be directed to stars@aaatourism.com.au.

INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.

SUMMARY COMMENTARY

ORIGINAL

Hotels, motels and serviced apartments

This summary contains key findings for original estimates. Original series are impacted by seasonal variations and irregular or non-seasonal influences. Comparison between quarters should be made with caution.

Accommodation takings

In the December quarter 2011, accommodation takings were $2281.5 million for hotels, motels and serviced apartments with 15 or more rooms.

Accommodation takings in the December quarter 2011 for hotels, motels and serviced apartments with 15 or more rooms were highest in New South Wales ($735.7 million) and Queensland ($586.8 million). The Australian Capital Territory recorded the lowest takings for the period ($55.7 million).

For Australia, the December quarter 2011 average takings per room night occupied were $164.06 for establishments with 15 or more rooms. This was 3.3% higher than the December quarter 2010 ($158.82).

AVERAGE TAKINGS, (a) by type of establishment - Australia

Room occupancy rate

The room occupancy rate for hotels, motels and serviced apartments with 15 or more rooms was 67.3% in the December quarter 2011.

Traditionally, hotels have higher occupancy rates than motels or serviced apartments. Over the December 2011 quarter, hotels had an occupancy rate of 72.8% compared with 60.4% for motels and 69.6% for serviced apartments.

ROOM OCCUPANCY RATE, Australia

Six out of the eight states and territories experienced an increase in the occupancy rate of hotels, motels and serviced apartments with 15 or more rooms between the December quarter 2010 and the December quarter 2011. Western Australia (70.1%) experienced the largest increase (3.5 percentage points). Over the same period, occupancy in the Australian Capital Territory (72.1%) decreased by 1.2 percentage points.

The Australian Capital Territory recorded the highest occupancy rate (72.1%) in the December quarter 2011 followed by Western Australia (70.1%) and New South Wales (67.9%) Over the same period, the Northern Territory experienced the lowest occupancy rate (61.4%).

Room nights Occupied

Room nights occupied were 13.9 million in the December quarter 2011 for hotels, motels and serviced apartments with 15 or more rooms.

New South Wales contributed the largest proportion (31.1%) of room nights occupied for hotels, motels and serviced apartments with 15 or more rooms, followed by Queensland (18.4%).

Average Length of Stay

The average length of stay over the December quarter 2011 for hotels, motels and serviced apartments with 15 or more rooms was 2.3 days. Queensland reported the longest average length of stay (2.7 days) followed by Western Australia (2.5 days) and the Northern Territory (2.3 days). Tasmania and South Australia had the shortest average length of stay (2.0 days).